Josei
by Bluebell Flame Echo
Summary: Ino isn't put with uninspired fellows and a teacher who doesn't seem to teach. Sakura isn't put with her crush, the person she hates most, and a male teacher who shows no interest in her. Hinata is bolstered by being surrounded by Kurenai, Sakura, and Ino. And that's just the start of the story. Gaara/Sakura, Kankuro/Hinata, Male Temari/Ino. A new author twists an old idea.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes:

 _Josei_ is Japanese for female. Not mother, wife, or prostitute, just female. I found it appropriate for an all female team.

I did my research, and this story idea has apparently been done before. I am a fresh author attempting to put a new twist on an old idea. I think I have something valuable to bring to the table. If you really hate my story because you think it's too tired and cliche, that's fine, I'm not out to please anybody. Don't bother reviewing. If you do, I'm long past the age where I'm going to let an Internet comment on a fanfic ruin my day. But please do give me a chance.

As a show of good faith, I have confined the part that seemed to trip up most authors to two chapters. I have posted those two chapters at once and will be moving on very shortly. Chapter Three is when Big Time Missions start.

* * *

Chapter One

" _You ever have one of those rare days that totally changes your life forever? A day where you realize you aren't the same person you were at the beginning of it?"_

"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, and Uchiha Sasuke."

Fury and despair crossed Naruto's face - not only was he _not_ with Sakura-chan, he was with Sasuke-teme! Sasuke's expression did not change. He'd already decided any teammates would only weigh him down. Kiba was smirking, still smug at the idea of making it into Genin rank at all but also the only one determined to make his new "pack" work cohesively.

Kiba, a burly boy full of fluffy hair and fur jacket and jerky and leather scent, with a dog fighting partner, saw all ninja teams as wolf packs. Even new rookie ninja teams full of preteens, like these were. It was all about finding a way to cooperate together for the good of the pack, finding a way to fight together. He looked at the antagonistic Sasuke and Naruto in exasperation and thought that he had a formidable task ahead of him.

But three girls in particular were also upset. Ino looked enraged and Sakura upset at the unfairness of life - neither of them had made it onto Sasuke-kun's team! Their only consolation was that no other girl had either. Hinata was downcast. She was not with Naruto-kun, and so suddenly none of the rest of the team placements seemed to matter to her very much.

"Team Eight: Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, and Hyuuga Hinata."

Ino and Sakura gasped in dismay - then glared daggers at each other. Of all the team placements possible, each thought with inward uncertainty, they each just _had_ to be placed with their rival for love and former best friend. Hinata sank in her seat, shy and terrified at being placed with two titanic tempers who were constantly at each other's throats.

"Why do I have to be with you?!" Ino hissed to Sakura quietly as Team Nine was announced.

"That's my line!" Sakura hissed back.

Hinata fiddled with her fingers. _I wish I was at least placed with two people who could get along_ , she thought miserably.

"Team Ten: Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Aburame Shino."

Shino was neutral, capable of working with any team in a logical progression. Shikamaru and Chouji, best friends since childhood, were even pleased. Theirs was an easy going team in the making. Naturally quiet Hinata watched them enviously.

"That ends team announcements," said Iruka-sensei at the end, putting away his clipboard in the Konoha Ninja Academy classroom. It was the last time they would enter this classroom as students. They would leave as Genin ranked ninja for their Hidden Village.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto immediately shot to his feet. "Why is a top notch student like me on a team with some loser like _him_?!" He pointed indignantly at Sasuke, who looked coldly contemptuous but did not react. Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry was infamous - Naruto the class clown with rumpled gold hair and a wild grin, Sasuke the pale and cold and aristocratically carved dark-haired and black-eyed genius. "And why can't I be with a cute girl like Sakura-chan?!"

"Idiot!" Sakura shot to her feet. "Why would I want to be on a team with someone like _you_?!"

Naruto wilted, and Hinata gasped softly. That was cruel even for Sakura, who was glaring bitterly at Naruto for taking her much-cherished spot by Sasuke's side. Naruto had always harbored a crush on Sakura, but she seemed to find him an annoyance. With a one track mind and a dislike for anything loud and dim witted, she never once looked away from Sasuke.

"Yeah, you think we're happy with the team placements, Naruto-baka?" Ino snapped. "We of course wanted to be on a team with Sasuke-kun, but you don't see _us_ complaining." She was bossy and brisk, glaring as well.

Ino knew Sasuke was aware of her affections. She and Sakura competed openly for him constantly, getting into many a cat fight.

Then Iruka began lecturing Naruto on Sasuke's superior Academy grades in front of the whole class, Sasuke scathingly needled Naruto, Naruto threatened to vault across the classroom and punch Sasuke in the face, Sakura got angrily between them, Naruto became suddenly timid before Sakura, and the whole thing ended predictably from there in a hailstorm of chaos.

Iruka sighed to himself. They had a long way to go.

"Break for lunch," he said. "Come back here in an hour to meet your Jonin sensei."

* * *

The three girls met outside the main Academy building in the late morning sunshine.

"We all know we each wanted to be with someone else," said Ino at last. "This might be our last shot with them. Why don't we go talk to _them_? We all _also_ know we don't want to eat lunch with each other."

"Hey, you're not the boss of me! I'm not doing what _you_ say!" Sakura snapped.

"But I'm obviously the best choice for leader! You two are supposed to follow what I say!" said Ino indignantly.

"Obviously, my ass! I'm not following you anywhere!" Sakura shrieked.

"U-umm…" Everyone turned to look in surprise at Hinata, who was fiddling with her fingers, seeming very anxious. "Why… why don't we…"

"You need to speak louder," said Sakura in flat irritation. "Have more confidence."

"Hinata," Ino sighed, superior, "if you want to have a voice on this team, you're going to need to learn to make more noise."

Hinata scowled in a rare show of irritation. Something about these girls was triggering her usually implacable temper. "Why don't we all talk about what we want!" she said louder. "And then decide! Sakura, what did _you_ want?"

Sakura sighed and crossed her arms. "Strategically, it would make the most sense," she admitted begrudgingly, "that we'll all have months at least to get to know each other. But this is our last shot with each of our respective crushes -"

"That's exactly what I said!" Ino protested.

"I'm not finished," Sakura growled, glaring daggers. "What I propose is this," she added intently. "We find out once and for all, before we're separated forever, exactly what each of our crushes thinks of us."

"Ooh." Ino's eyes gleamed. "I _like_ this idea."

"But - but -" Hinata choked out.

"What's wrong, Hinata?" Ino smirked, half grinning. "Too scared to face him? Don't want to know the truth?"

Hinata looked cornered. "I - I -" Was she? Was that it - was she going to be the one not to face the Naruto she might lose forever, because she was too scared? "Alright," she said, resolve forming. "I'll do it."

"That's the spirit!" Ino crowed, as Sakura clapped her on the back.

Hinata smiled. She'd always been embarrassed for these girls' fangirlish silliness around Sasuke. But they were brave - she'd give them that. Braver in admitting to their feelings than her. They didn't just follow their crush around, watching him from behind trees; they actually approached him and were forthright with how they felt. They were loud, fiery, and forward. And she felt braver around them. So there was that, at least.

And so they parted ways.

Hinata was quieter and simpler. She made a hand seal and whispered, "Byakugan!" The veins around her eyes bulged with chakra, and she searched the surrounding buildings for Naruto. Spying him on the roof of a building alone, she felt a leap in the pit of her stomach. She took a deep breath and jumped off over the rooftops to reach him, horrifically nervous.

Ino and Sakura bickered all the way down the road.

"I'm going to find Sasuke-kun first!"

"No, _I_ will!"

"I bet you don't even know where he is," said Ino smugly, and Sakura paused and flushed.

"Of course not," she said quietly. "He always says he doesn't want to eat lunch with me."

"And you let that stop you? HA!" said Ino smugly, and Sakura's hands curled into fists. "I found out where he eats lunch years ago. I tracked him one afternoon, not that _you'd_ be able to do anything that good. I just always sit a distance away from him, because _I_ know Sasuke-kun prefers to eat lunch _in retirement_."

Ino looked down her nose at Sakura.

Sakura thought fast - there was no way she'd find Sasuke on her own - and came across an idea. "Then I propose this, Ino-pig," she said, calculating and sly. "We both meet Sasuke-kun upfront and ask him which one he prefers best."

Ino's eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" Sakura mocked, smirking. "You don't think he'll pick you?"

Ino growled. "Of course he'll pick me, Forehead Girl!" she snapped. "Fine! Come on, let's go! This way." And she stormed off. Sakura hurried to catch up with her. Ino tried to get ahead, then Sakura, then Ino, and soon they racing each other to the empty classroom where Sasuke usually ate lunch in retirement.

* * *

Hinata reached Naruto's roof just as he leaped off of it. She gasped in dismay and followed him.

Sakura and Ino burst into Sasuke's classroom just as Naruto leapt through the window and tackled him from behind.

"Naruto-kun, no!" Hinata wailed, leaping through the window after him.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura and Ino shrieked, hurrying to help their fallen crush.

Naruto and Sasuke had begun to get into a wild brawl, a wrestling match or perhaps a simple fist fight. Hinata pulled Naruto away, Sakura and Ino pulled an equally angry and rather ruffled Sasuke away, and the entire group stood in the classroom glaring daggers at each other.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted, always the first to break any silence. "I need to know what you think of me before we're separated forever!"

"I think you're irritating, Naruto!" Sakura snapped, glaring. "Loud, obnoxious, pigheaded, and stupid!"

"Yeah, unfortunately for you, Naruto, even I'll admit Forehead Girl has the best intellectual grades in our year," said Ino in cruel amusement. "I beat her physically, but she beats me mentally. You, unfortunately, don't exactly fit at least one of her major requirements."

"Why would I pick you?" Sakura sneered at Naruto, who suddenly looked downcast and heartbroken.

"Stop being cruel to Naruto-kun!" said Hinata softly and fiercely, her courage breaking through at last.

"Why?" Sakura snapped. "Because you've had a crush on him for four years and have chosen to follow him around all the time instead of trying to talk to him even once?"

Hinata's eyes widened and her face was red in horrified humiliation.

"... Uh, Sakura," said Ino helpfully into the silence, "that was actually kind of a low blow. I should know. I'm the queen of them."

Naruto turned to Hinata, puzzled. "You… like me?" Then he grinned obnoxiously. "Hey! Weird timid quiet girl likes me!" he jeered. He was more impressed with himself than he was making fun of her - just some stupid, boasting, grinning twelve year old boy - but Hinata became very tiny and obviously took it deeply personally.

"Naruto, you don't even know her _name_?" said Ino in exasperation.

"What _is_ her name?" said Naruto thoughtfully. He wasn't kidding either. "Hey!" he said, looking around at everyone as they just stared at him in exasperation. "What is it? Come on!" It was obvious - he wasn't trying to be offensive this time.

Hinata burst into tears.

"You, Uzumaki," said Sasuke with the faint disgust of the knowledgeable but irritated, "are the very image of untactful."

"I can make up big words, too, you know!" Naruto snapped. "Umskushi! Bumfiddler!"

"Just ignore him," Sakura sighed, turning to Sasuke and Ino. "Sasuke-kun… we… had a proposition for you." She suddenly became shy and fearful at the end.

Ino was more bold. "We need to know who you like more," she said bluntly. "Me or Sakura. Because we both like you, and we were wondering who you wanted to pick."

Sasuke stared at them. "I… am not interested," he said with distant politeness. "And I don't think I will be anytime soon."

"In who?" They both looked at him hopefully.

"In both of you."

They wilted in horror.

"I choose neither of you," said Sasuke. "You're both cruel, shallow, silly, and weak. Besides, my lifestyle does not have a girl in it right now. There are too many things I need to do first.

"I choose neither of you," he repeated, glaring faintly at them. "I don't like one of you anymore than I like the other. I don't like either of you at all. How many times do I have to put it differently before you stop staring at me like that?"

They both swallowed past lumps in their throats.

"I think," said Sasuke into the defeated silence, "that everyone in this room has to accept that nobody is getting what they really want. I wanted to be left alone," he muttered sarcastically. "It doesn't look like that's happening either."

The girls suddenly ran out of the room crying, leaving two unusually somber preteen ninja boys behind them.

* * *

They sat on the main building's back steps, sniffling, looking out over a quiet grassy field lined with trees that took up the northeast side of the Academy campus. They were staring ahead of themselves in tears. Each patently thought it was the end of the world as they knew it.

"... Weird timid quiet girl," said Hinata softly. "He didn't even know my _name_. I bet nobody in the class does."

"But I think we take the cake," said Ino with watery bitterness. "Cruel, shallow, silly, and weak. And it was like we were exactly the same to him, after all that work trying to make ourselves stand out. Geez."

"I'm… I'm sorry for outing you like that, Hinata. You deserved to tell him yourself," said Sakura quietly, ashamed.

"What's going on here?"

They whirled around.

A tall kunoichi woman was standing before them. She had long black curls, brilliant crimson eyes, and a big, curvy form covered by a wrap dress. Her hitai-ate was tied, fierce and aggressive, around her forehead. Her body type was not the slim ideal, but she held herself with such innate confidence that it didn't seem to matter. She was powerful, distant, and glamorous, everything a true kunoichi was supposed to be.

"The Jonin Sensei are in the classroom," she said, looking at them sympathetically. "Iruka-sensei told me to find Team Eight out here."

"Great. So at least _he_ saw us crying." Ino angrily wiped the tears away.

The woman sat down on the steps in their center. "I'm a girl. I might be able to relate. What happened?" She looked around in the all business way of a big sister.

They told her the story.

"I'm guessing," she said slowly, "that right now you're all a little lost. We're talking about three to four year crushes here. Those boys have been the center of your lives for so long, you don't know who you are without them."

They stared up at her with big eyes.

The woman sighed. "Most girls have to be trained out of this," she admitted. "Let me put it to you this way. Our lives are formed by the stories we are told. In all the stories you have been told, women are side characters - love interests. So you unconsciously decided to make your entire existence focus around boys. Not even beauty, or popularity, or grace, but boys. Other people.

"You've made yourselves the side characters in your own stories.

"Now you're waking up to the fact that your love interest is no longer in the picture. Now you have to be the main character of your own story. And that scares you, because you've never had to be the main character of your story before. You don't know how to yet."

The woman smiled. She had seen realization and determination forming in the girls. It was easier now, she thought, when they were only letting go of silly schoolgirl crushes, when they had a female mentor and were on the cusp of something great, when they had been rejected directly. Thank goodness she'd gotten to them when she did.

"But you _are_ the main character. You deserve to be treated like one. And you owe it to yourself to figure out how to be one. The perfect time is when you start being a kunoichi of Konoha, yes?" The woman shrugged playfully.

"YEAH!" Sakura suddenly cheered, fists pumped as she leaped to her feet.

"Well of course I'm the main character. I'm amazing," Ino preened, grinning.

Hinata said nothing, but a small smile had formed over her face, a new light of determination in her eyes.

Then the three girls stopped and looked at one another.

"Our rivalry isn't over, Forehead Girl," said Ino at last. "Just because _he's_ no longer in the picture, that doesn't mean I've given up."

"That goes double for me." Sakura glared. " _Ino-pig_."

Then they turned to Hinata suddenly. "Choose one!" they barked. Hinata jumped. "Hinata," Ino preened, "wasn't I nicer to you? Don't you want to come over to _my_ side?"

But Hinata was glaring, fists clenched, new determination forming within her. "It _would_ make more sense," she admitted, and Ino sensed a victory - "That's exactly why I won't do it." Ino and Sakura stared. "I'm tired of being a doormat!" said Hinata heatedly. "I'm tired of being a footnote! I'm tired of being the weird, timid, quiet girl! I want to be my own main character!

"So I won't side with Sakura because she was mean to me. And I won't side with Ino because she'd try to walk all over me." Hinata crossed her arms, pushing down her own nervousness. "I have my own side," she declared, the barest tremble in her voice, chin lifted. "If this is not a boyish rivalry… there's no reason why I can't change and become a rival, too. What, am I not good enough?" she demanded.

Sakura and Ino looked at her - and smiled.

"Then we're agreed," said Ino. "It's a three way rivalry. And I'll win. I'm going to become the best."

They whirled around to the woman, who was smiling slightly.

"Let's get to being Team Eight."

* * *

They all found a gazebo in a quiet Konoha village park and sat around their new Sensei in a circle. Green trees filtered in sunlight overhead.

"We'll each go around and introduce ourselves," said Kurenai. "For example, my name is Yuuhi Kurenai. I'm a genjutsu illusions specialist in my twenties. My hobbies are gardening, studying psychology, wine tasting, and jazz concerts."

"My name is Haruno Sakura," said Sakura uncertainly. She was small and slim, no curves anywhere she had often thought despairingly. Her brainy wide forehead was her most sensitive feature, her pointed chin coming in second. She had a red kunoichi summer dress with shorts underneath, green eyes, and long pink hair with her hitai-ate threaded through it like a hair ribbon. "My parents are ordinary people, so I don't really have any special skills yet. My hobbies are books and puzzles. My best trait is my intelligence. My chakra control is pretty good too," she added as an afterthought.

"Very good," said Kurenai warmly. "Now, Sakura, since your parents are ordinary people you may not know. All Genin level kunoichi should wear their hair either tied up or short. Only a more skilled ninja can keep their hair from getting snagged out in the field. That's why Ino has a ponytail and Hinata has chin-length hair. My hair is loose, but I am a Jonin."

Sakura looked embarrassed and uncertain. "Hair bun," Ino advised. "Messy would look cute on you."

"Use your hitai-ate like a scrunchy," Hinata suggested helpfully. Her own was tied around her neck like a kerchief. "Or… a ribbon or something."

Sakura paused - then tied her pink hair up in a messy bun, securing her hitai-ate around it. "There," she said in satisfaction. "It's not like… I need long hair anymore anyway," she added painfully, remembering all those years of trying to impress Sasuke. Ino also became downcast.

"If I might suggest, Ino… if you feel badly, perhaps you could also change your hair?" Kurenai said helpfully.

Ino thought about it, then became determined. "Okay!" she said. She took out a kunai and, with her hair still in its ponytail, cut about half of it off until it was closer to shoulder length. Then, being Ino, she did something artistic and made all the hair different lengths - but with most of it still long enough to make it into the ponytail. Ino was a one woman act in cosmetics.

Then they turned to Hinata. "Your turn." Hinata blinked. Apparently she had to change something about herself, too. But what could she do that would make her seem as bold as Ino and Sakura…?

"Try taking off your big sweater," Ino suggested. "You've got a pretty magnificent rack, but you never show it off so no one ever sees it."

"Yeah! Do it!" Sakura cheered.

Hinata looked between them, blushing… then she smiled and took off her bulky sweater. Underneath it was a tight black tee showing off her curves and a pair of equally tight black pants. Hinata was an hourglass. She'd always been self conscious of her body, which had grown into itself too fast and too young - hence the sweater. Sometimes it seemed she was nothing but round.

"Man," Sakura muttered, "I wish I looked like that," and Hinata blushed darker, pleased despite herself.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Sakura admitted, smiling.

"Well… I wish I looked like you," said Hinata with a shy smile, and Sakura's eyes widened in surprise.

"Alright, then. Your turn, Hinata." Kurenai turned to Hinata, who now had a curvy body in skintight black boy's clothes and a curvy, pale face that was just slightly too round to be considered naturally beautiful. Her eyes were the silvery Hyuuga clan eyes and her hair was chin-length and blue-black. Her hitai-ate was tied around her neck like a kerchief, unknowingly emphasizing her chest area.

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata," said Hinata, quietly but firmer than she might have a while ago. "My clan specializes in taijutsu connected to our doujutsu. We have all seeing eyes and a hand to hand style full of soft, graceful, lethal attacks known as Gentle Fist. My hobbies are flower pressing, baking, and making herbal teas and tinctures."

At last, they turned to Ino. She had a cute, slinky little black skirt and top set, with an exposed midriff tied with protective bandages. Her hitai-ate was slung around her hips, emphasizing her waist. She had a shoulder-length platinum blonde ponytail full of hair of different lengths, some strands falling around her perfectly oval face. Her features were pointed and smirking, her eyes were icy blue, and her hips were curvier than her breasts. She was a bit self conscious of her big ass, which was why she emphasized it with the hitai ate - Ino was fierce on never letting anyone know she was self conscious of anything.

"My name is Yamanaka Ino," she said smugly. "My clan specializes in ninjutsu - mind and body control, more specifically. My hobbies are shopping and tending to my mother's flower shop. I am free to advise people on both fashion and bouquets. Anything girly? You come right to me. I'll fix you up."

"Very good," said Kurenai at the end. "Now. I have something to reveal to all of you. There is one final test I must administer before you are fully graduated into Genin - Hokage's orders."

They sat up straight, alert.

"If we fail this test, will we be sent back to the Academy?" Ino demanded.

"Yes," Kurenai confirmed simply, nodding.

"After all that _work_?" Sakura wailed.

Hinata curled in on herself, becoming downcast and timid once more.

"I'm sorry, girls, one more test is needed to pass into Genin," said Kurenai. "It's only a few hours long. Would you like for it to be administered now, or would you rather wait till tomorrow?"

"How much better prepared will we be tomorrow?" Sakura muttered cryptically, annoyed. "All we'll be is more nervous."

"Yeah, we haven't even done anything today!" Ino said louder. " _And_ I brought all my ninja equipment because I thought we might have our first mission! It's only like one-thirty!"

"Let's just get it over with," Hinata said quietly, bracing herself for disappointment. It had been a nice illusion, that strength, while it lasted… Her old downcast Academy mentality set back in.

"Very well," said Kurenai, revealing nothing. "I thought you might say that. Right this way, to Training Area 34."

* * *

They all jumped down into the middle of the training area - a grassy clearing surrounded by forests, with a brook running nearby. There were three wood posts in the middle of the clearing.

"This is the standard issue final Konoha Genin Exam," said Kurenai, holding up two silver bells clinically. She attached them, jangling, to her hip. "It is known as the Bell Test. It is called this because your team is given a mission. Its objective? To take these bells from me by force.

"Getting a bell means the person who gets it passes into Genin rank. Simple, right?"

"But wait -!" Ino began.

"There are only two bells," said Sakura, frowning.

Hinata was silent with terror.

"Correct," said Kurenai. "At least one person will get no bell. That person will fail. They will also be tied to the center post, and the rest of us will eat lunch in front of them." She smirked quietly. "None of you ate lunch, did you?"

Three stomachs grumbled as they all became deadpan. They'd been so upset and boy crazy… they hadn't eaten lunch.

"You'll want to be careful of that in the future," said Kurenai. "Not eating before working out means you could faint out in the field."

"But what if we want to look good -?" Ino protested.

"Then find another way to do it besides not eating. Work out a lot. Eat healthily. But ninja need meals, or they become weak - prone to fainting - cannon fodder. Do you want that to be you?" Kurenai asked ruthlessly.

All three girls were silent, swallowing.

"But today, you already agreed to the test, so nothing can be done," Kurenai sighed, shrugging. "Still convinced you'll make Genin?"

Sakura and Ino paused - turned to glare at each other. "Of course," said Ino aggressively. "I have to beat Forehead Girl."

"Then of course I'll do better than Ino-pig!" Sakura snapped.

They turned to Hinata, who'd gone silent.

"You know, Hinata-weirdo," Ino said in smug satisfaction, grinning. "If you want to give up right now, part of this test is over."

Sakura watched her cannily, eyes flinty and determined.

Hinata's eyes widened, caught - and then she paused. _Weirdo_. Wasn't that what Naruto had called her? Weird timid quiet girl. Hadn't she decided to stop being that person?

Anger formed within her.

"Am I so easily underestimated?" she snapped frigidly. "Ino-pig, Sakura-forehead-girl, I'm still on! And what's more, I'll beat you!"

Kurenai smiled a strange, unreadable smile - and set a timer on the center post beside her. "You all have one hour." She set the timer and held it there. "When I say start, you go. One - two - three - START!"

They all leaped off into the forestry to hide and figure out their separate plans.

* * *

Sakura was running through the underbrush. She'd lain under a bush watching Kurenai for a few minutes in that clearing - hiding and watching, like the others, she supposed - but then Kurenai had suddenly disappeared and Sakura had felt a moment of distinct panic. Now she was running.

What was she to do? She no skills. She'd never even been very good in physical Academy training exercises. Whatever she had said, her strategic mind couldn't find a good way out of this situation.

But no! She wouldn't give up! She had to beat Ino-pig and Hinata-weirdo!

Still… what was she to do if she wanted to beat a Jonin level illusions specialist who could move so fast it was like she had suddenly transported herself, dematerialized out of thin air?

Suddenly, she saw Kurenai ahead in a clearing. Her heart stopped. She ducked and hid in a bush near the clearing. Good. Kurenai hadn't spotted Sakura yet. Her back was to her.

"Sakura." Sakura whirled around and Kurenai's face was directly in hers. Sakura shrieked right before she blacked out.

She woke up in the center of the clearing. She completely spazzed, freaking out for a solid minute as she wondered what the hell was going on. Then she heard her parents' voices behind her. "Sakura…" they moaned.

Sakura turned again. Her parents were staggering toward her. They were flooded with kunai, some bulging out of their eyeballs, others out of their legs. They were bloody, mangled messes. They leaned against a tree, staring at her.

"Sakura… she targeted us to get to you… Sakura… you couldn't save us…"

Tears filled Sakura's eyes. A horrible, piercing scream filled the air and she realized it was hers. Her stomach spun, her head swam, and she blacked out.

* * *

Hinata, Byakugan eyes active, winced from the surrounding underbrush as she saw Sakura faint, hitting the forest floor. Just as Kurenai had predicted. Hinata usually tried to be charitable with others' performances, but even she could admit, that had been… pathetic.

She saw the illusion, of course, as any good ninja would have anyway, but with her Byakugan active Sakura's parents were nothing more than a misty mirage. They weren't real. Sakura's parents were safe at home, waiting for their daughter. But Sakura's senses, thanks to Kurenai, had told her a different story. If it weren't for a few flaws, the illusion would have been perfect.

Illusions were no joke, even to a Hyuuga. Kurenai could have attacked and killed Sakura at any point while Sakura was distracted by the false image, though kindly, Kurenai had chosen not to. And Hinata wouldn't have been able to stomach killing someone distracted - not even Sakura-forehead-girl. Illusions could even exert a clumsy kind of body control and cause massive damage to the cerebral nervous system, the part of the brain they controlled with chakra.

But Hinata's Byakugan eyes should allow her an excellent advantage against a fighter like Kurenai. She could see through illusions. Those same eyes had managed to help her find Kurenai in the first place.

She waited for Kurenai to walk by her hiding place in the underbrush… then suddenly lashed out with glowing Gentle Fist hands in a taijutsu attack. Kurenai ducked around the attack, and reacted. Hinata saw her replace herself with an illusion.

She smiled and forced right through the illusion, whirling around to attack the real Kurenai, who blocked her successfully but seemed surprised. "That won't work on my eyes," said Hinata triumphantly.

So Kurenai and Hinata began a taijutsu spar, Hinata's specialty. Hinata kept pushing Kurenai back, and for a moment she thought she was winning - then, the same as before, Kurenai suddenly disappeared.

"Only a fool only masters one area," said Kurenai in Hinata's ear, directly behind her. "Did you think I was not also a fast close distance fighter? You are good, Hinata, but certainly not even the best Hyuuga of your age."

Then she knocked Hinata out cold with a chop to the neck from behind. Hinata would awake to find herself tied up with ninja wire it would take her extra time to work her way out of.

* * *

When Kurenai walked into Ino's clearing, Ino was hiding but the trap she had lain was ready.

Ino knew. In order to beat not only Sakura-forehead-girl and Hinata-weirdo, but Kurenai-sensei, she'd have to be extra tricky. Sneaky and resourceful, like a ninja. She had ninja equipment and weapons, so she used them.

Kurenai tripped a trigger wire and a vicious round of kunai and senbon needles were meant to hit a few key areas. The kunai knives went directly for her eyeballs while the senbon went for the knee joints in her legs to numb them. Ino had calculated and judged all height distances perfectly, observing while she had the chance, and she wasn't fucking around.

Kurenai disappeared right as the trap was about to hit her.

As Ino predicted, in her speed she appeared across the clearing. That was when Ino stepped out from behind a tree - in a line directly across from Kurenai. "Perfect," she smirked, as Kurenai's eyes widened in surprise. Ino made a hand seal - and Kurenai leaped aside just in time.

Ino scowled. She could take over another's mind and body, leaving her own body vulnerable and unconscious and connecting the two physical forms in the process, but she was novice. She had to be in a straight line away from the other person in order to do it.

Kurenai kept leaping around, unable to be caught, so Ino triggered another trap. Wire suddenly lashed out, wrapping around Kurenai and binding her in place. Then Ino did the hand seal again, successfully connected with Kurenai's mind… she woke up in Kurenai's body, looking at her own slumped form across the clearing.

Then suddenly she felt something hit her mind heavily from behind.

Flash and she was on fire.

Flash and she was frozen encased in ice.

Flash and she was being held over a cavernous ravine.

Flash and she was being thrown toward a boiling pit of hot lava.

Ino shrieked and retreated back inside her own mind, her body waking up. She shot to her feet, breathing heavily. Kurenai was still wrapped in ninja wire across the clearing from her. "Be careful, Ino," said Kurenai calmly. "Your chakra is weak. A strong mind would break through that technique."

Ino smirked. "But I still have you trapped," she said smugly. "So I still get the bells - and I still win."

Then the illusion faded away. A pile of cut wires lay in Kurenai's place. "What the -?" Ino gasped, and then she felt something invisible spring her arms and legs together. She fell over flat on the ground. "Genjutsu," she growled, writhing. "I forgot." She pushed chakra out into the air around her, disrupting its usual flow inside her body - and paused in surprise. She was still trapped. The illusion hadn't broken.

"That is known as an imprint genjutsu," said Kurenai emotionlessly, standing above her. "It is timed. Once you release it, you have five minutes before it leaves your mind."

"Damnit!" Ino snapped, struggling against the genjutsu, as Kurenai left the clearing.

* * *

Sakura gasped and woke up, sitting upright. "My parents -! Where are -?"

"It was a genjutsu."

Sakura looked around. Hinata was trying to work her way out of her bindings. Sakura paused - then went cautiously over to help, to Hinata's surprise.

"So it wasn't real," said Sakura, troubled. "I suppose I looked silly, just fainting like that."

"... You have no clan skills," said Hinata simply, reserved.

Once Hinata was untied, they stood and looked at each other. "We'll find Kurenai-sensei with Ino, won't we?" Sakura said seriously.

"Shall we call a temporary truce?" Hinata agreed. "In order to find the action together?" Sakura nodded. Hinata activated her Byakugan - and gasped.

"Ino-pig's lying in that clearing over there. Her heart rate is low and she's not moving! Kurenai-sensei's gone!"

They took to the trees and leapt through the forest branches, landing in Ino's clearing. _"Ino!"_

"Relax," said Ino calmly, irritated. "It's a timed genjutsu. I can't break out."

"Nonsense," said Sakura clinically. "All you need is a second person with good chakra control, and you're freed. Iruka-sensei told us about it." She walked over and with a tap of chakra she freed Ino, who sprang to her feet.

There was a heavy silence in the clearing as the three girls glared at each other, rivalry reforming.

"I take it no one's gotten a bell yet," Ino said at last, testing the waters.

"No. But I will, of course," said Sakura, her tone hard and angry.

"Not before I do," said Hinata, quiet and deadly.

Suddenly, the timer rang a distance away. They all slumped and Ino groaned. "Damnit!" they shouted to the skies.

* * *

Sakura ended up being tied to the stump.

"Well, Sakura is tied to the stump because all she did was faint," said Kurenai, irritated. Sakura hung her head. "But needless to say you all failed."

Hinata had returned back to hopeless, silent depression. Ino looked angry, then uncertain - and for super confident Ino, uncertainty was saying a lot. Was she just… not a good kunoichi?

"I must say you had potential. I'm disappointed." They all looked up. "None of you divined the true meaning of this test, did you? It was teamwork."

Three sets of eyes widened.

"You wouldn't have passed us… no matter what," Sakura breathed.

"It is true," Kurenai admitted. "Had you gotten a bell on your own, you would not have made Genin. Had you worked together, even if you hadn't gotten a bell I would have passed you. The bell was a facade.

"But I think you could have gotten a bell had you worked together. Hinata, you may not be the best Gentle Fist or Byakugan user I've ever seen, but that doesn't make you a _bad_ Gentle Fist and Byakugan user. Ino, you already have at least one mind-body control ninjutsu down, if you're in a straight line away from the victim and have someone to watch your original body.

"So Hinata could have looked through my genjutsu and gotten me distracted and in a straight shot using taijutsu while Ino took over my body using ninjutsu. Then in the few seconds it took for Ino to take me over, Hinata could have grabbed the bells. But who to mastermind all this? Well, Sakura, of course - the brilliant and strategic one. She would also have been useful for watching over Ino's body, and for saving the other two girls from any nasty genjutsu with her chakra control and observational skills.

"But none of that happened. Sakura freaked out and fainted at the first sign of trouble. Hinata and Ino failed through their efforts to try to do everything alone.

"That is why you failed."

"But - there were only two bells!" Ino protested. "That's not fair!"

"True. The test was trying to pit the three of you against each other. But I told you in the beginning - the team's mission objective was the bells. An ideal Genin team would have focused on the mission objective and worked together, even with the chance that every member of that team had an equal opportunity of being doomed. That's how it is out in the field. Teams must work together, but there is always a chance of death.

"One has to be collective and self sacrificing. Teamwork. That is the Konoha ninja way.

"Because you see what happened when there was no teamwork, yes? With teamwork, you were told there was a chance at one death. But since all of you chose to work separately -"

"All three of us would have died," Hinata whispered in realization.

"And the Konoha lesson is this: If you had worked together, in our test, there would have been no death. Ninja have to look underneath the underneath in any exam or mission, so to speak, and none of you did that. It is this, and not your abilities, that are the reason why you failed.

"You are rivals, and that is good. But to be a true Konoha team, you must also be friends. That lack of friendship is what has failed you today."

There was a solemn silence.

"... Give us one more chance," said Ino at last, staring at the ground in consternation.

"Yes! Please, Sensei!" said Hinata, looking up.

"We promise we'll do better this time," said Sakura, pained.

"... Very well," said Kurenai, reserved. "After lunch. But since you know now, the test will be much harder. I have been hiding my skills. After lunch I will reveal them. So eat up. And no one give Sakura any lunch - or the whole thing falls through."

She walked off the field. The girls ate in a heavy silence - and Sakura's stomach groaned.

"It's fine," she told them, smiling weakly. "It'll give me that perfect girlish figure." But they looked concerned.

"Hinata - check with Byakugan," said Ino, determined, turning to Hinata.

Hinata activated her eyes. "I see Kurenai-sensei nowhere," she confirmed icily.

Ino lifted up her tray and began feeding Sakura, holding out a bite of food. "Here," she said, scowling. "You're useless enough as it is. We can't have you fainting again. As beautiful women, all we need is one lunch, right?"

"But -" said Sakura, shocked.

Hinata knelt beside them with her Byakugan active. "I will keep watch," she said firmly.

"But that's against the rules!" Sakura finally finished protesting.

"Sakura-forehead-girl," Ino sighed, pained. "You're not from a special family, so I'm going to make this really simple for you. Keep in mind for future reference - ninja aren't _supposed_ to follow the rules. The only thing that matters is the objective."

"And our objective is the bells," said Hinata icily, kneeling and staring straight forward in determination.

"But the point of the test isn't the bells. The point of the test is friendship." Determination had formed over Sakura's face. "That's what Kurenai-sensei said. And I'm not going to risk my friends by forcing them to break the rules for me."

Hinata and Ino were staring at Sakura in surprise. Sakura looked quite matter of fact and decided.

Then a voice from behind made them all freeze. "At ease, ladies." Kurenai swept calmly back into their midst.

Ino stared in disbelief at Hinata. "I thought you were looking -!" she yelped.

"The Byakugan has one tiny narrow blind spot in its 360 degree field of vision." Hinata was looking speculatively over at Kurenai. "One very few know about."

Kurenai was smiling, a small, glowing expression on her face. "Congratulations, you three," she said. "You all pass into Genin."

"... What…?" They just _stared_.

"I told you: look for hidden meanings and intentions. Look underneath the underneath. You showed teamwork, did you not?" Kurenai pointed out brightly. "Each of you was thinking only of the others. Ino and Hinata cared more about their teammate and the objective than they did about following the rules or getting in trouble. Sakura was willing to risk her own future safety in order to keep her teammates from getting in trouble on her behalf.

"You don't have enormous skills, but we can work on those. As far as I'm concerned, you learned your lesson and all three of you pass into Genin rank.

"To be honest," she admitted, smiling, leaning forward, "if all three if you had let a teammate go hungry without saying anything, because it was what you were _supposed_ to do, I probably wouldn't have passed you anyway. It wouldn't have been very ninja like of you. It would also have made you shitty people."

Her tone was light and matter of fact.

"Congratulations, Team Eight. You're all ninja."

Ino and Sakura began cheering. Hinata shot to her feet, beaming, and cut Sakura free with a kunai. Sakura, jumping up and down, hugged Hinata and then Ino - and then Sakura and Ino got very sheepish and stared at their toes, becoming silent and embarrassed. Hinata giggled and Kurenai smiled in exasperation.

"You two were friends once, before Sasuke," Kurenai realized, and Hinata looked over at Sakura and Ino in surprise. "It will be nice, won't it, being friends again?"

Sakura and Ino looked up… and gave each other surprisingly shy smiles.

"Come on, team," said Kurenai. "We start missions tomorrow."

As they walked off the field, however, Sakura looked troubled. "Sensei… I've realized how weak I am. I don't want to be the one with no family tied to the post anymore. Is there any way you could… possibly train me?" She winced, looking hopeful.

"I've been considering training you in genjutsu illusions myself," said Kurenai thoughtfully. "You have the main qualifications: you're intelligent and observant with excellent chakra control. You also have no other interfering abilities to work on."

Sakura gasped and brightened, and Kurenai smiled slyly.

"Well then - I want training too!"

"Yeah, so do I!"

Hinata and Ino looked indignant.

"We need work too," said Ino bossily, tossing her head. "I fucked up just as much as anybody else."

"Yes. And being a good Hyuuga is no longer good enough," said Hinata, calm but heated. "I wish to become the _best_."

"Of course. In any case, you have to keep up with your rival Sakura, don't you?" They nodded. Kurenai pondered. "Then I will personally supervise each girl's immersion into her higher clan arts. Ino, Hinata, the Yamanaka are huge in ANBU Black Ops Torture and Interrogation while the Hyuuga are one of the most prestigious clans in our village.

"You have a long way to go in order to make your families proud.

"I will also be putting you through team training - team management and cohesion exercises, strategy exercises. I want the three of you to become like a well oiled machine, each part expertly predicting the others, putting your abilities to their best effect." Steel had entered her deceptively calm voice.

"Hey, guys!" said Ino in sudden excitement, turning to the other two in the setting sun over the training field. "Remember how those awful boys wrote us off?" Already it seemed like forever ago. "What if we get super strong, stronger than _them?_

"What if we prove them wrong about us? Not so we can get them back, but just to show them what's what?"

Her grin was mirrored in the faces of the other two girls.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

" _The old saying often holds true: there is a special place in hell for women who don't support other women."_

Kurenai's first job was to visit each girl's parents. She had to formally request their permission in order to allow their daughters to become involved in dangerous training and missions.

Sakura's parents did well for themselves for not being ninja. Their house was modern and civilian but lovely, with fine carpets and armchairs and chandeliers. They were merchants, probably, in addition to being low level ninja.

Sakura was sent out of the room while Kurenai sat down across from Sakura's parents and made the polite request. The Haruno couple seemed naturally argumentative, her mother tightly strung and her father laid back, so they bickered for a good few minutes about who exactly got to give Sakura permission to participate in danger.

Finally, Kurenai said in exasperation, "How about you both say it?"

They looked forward. "We agree!" they said aggressively.

"We knew what she was getting into when she signed up for the Academy," Sakura's mother added seriously. "I nag her a lot and she hates it, but really I came to terms with that long ago. My daughter is fighter." Sakura's mother shrugged and smirked.

"I will be personally training your daughter in genjutsu," said Kurenai seriously. "So I will give her a good chance of surviving out in the field."

The Haruno couple relaxed, some unseen tension leaving them. "Thank you," said Sakura's father quietly.

Ino's parents lived in a humble traditional clan home behind a flower shop. The Yamanaka were wealthy, but never flaunted their wealth. Ino's father, an eerily calm ANBU interrogator, was matched by Sakura's mother, a dignified and elderly civilian woman.

They were so much more serious than their daughter. That must lead to tension, mustn't it?

Ino was sent away. Kurenai started to make the request, kneeling on tatami mats across from the Yamanaka couple, but Ino's father interrupted and nodded. "We allow it," he said simply. Sakura's mother remained appropriately silent - nothing like Ino would have been.

Kurenai must have looked surprised, because Ino's father smiled. "I want my daughter to be a fighter like I was. Besides, I wouldn't dream of trying to stop Ino, of all people, from doing anything.

"I will admit, I was surprised when I heard she would not be with my ex teammates' sons, Shikamaru and Chouji. Nevertheless, I am intrigued. She has been given the standard full fledged ninja Yamanaka ear piercing ceremony. Let's see how she does."

The Hyuuga, on the other hand - Hinata's family - _totally_ flaunted their wealth.

Kurenai was led by a branch family retainer guard through a magnificent clan compound with walls, peaceful zen gardens, and long shoji screen lined buildings with arched roofs. Hinata was sent away and Kurenai had a meeting with her clan head father in his private office. His wife had died years ago, so it was him alone, and he was cold and dignified. He couldn't have been any more intimidating if he'd literally had ice running in his veins.

Kurenai could see how Academy Hinata might have been steamrolled by such a father.

"Hinata is allowed on dangerous missions," he said without preamble, before Kurenai could speak. "Just as she was allowed to go to the Academy with commoners. Long ago, Hinata showed signs of being weak. She had a spar with her younger sister Hanabi. Hanabi won, so Hanabi is my clan heiress, not Hinata.

"Hanabi will never be allowed the risk of dangerous away missions, but Hinata is free to come and go as she pleases."

Kurenai remained solemn. "... Very well," she said at last. She turned toward the door and then paused. She turned back to a faintly surprised Hiashi and said, "I see more fire and potential in your daughter than you do, Hiashi-san. I hope to prove you wrong about her supposed lack of strength."

She left Hiashi sitting in puzzled silence.

Kurenai walked out of the office and found Hinata sitting outside. She'd heard the whole thing. "Thank you," she whispered to Kurenai, her eyes pained.

Kurenai nodded. "It is true," she said simply, told Hinata where the training field was that the first team meeting would be held, and left.

After that, it was many weeks of fenced off green training fields with her students.

* * *

Hinata did the main bulk of her individualized training with Kurenai, surprisingly enough. Her sister was busy with clan heiress training, her father had no time for her, and her cousin Neji was so vicious that the thought of asking _him_ for help with training made her shudder just a bit. So she would take Hyuuga main family scrolls and practice them with Kurenai, alternating between eye improving exercises, Gentle Fist katas, and spars with Kurenai and later Kurenai clones.

And Kurenai may not have been a taijutsu specialist, but she was _good_ in a hand to hand fight. Her taijutsu specialized in weaving around blows, quick in and out attacks while she never let herself be touched. She did not block directly, but moved around the blows.

This was the perfect exercise for Hinata's Gentle Fist. Gentle Fist used the Byakugan to see into a person's chakra coils. With soft taps, they closed a person's tenketsu points along the coils, thus blocking chakra and inflicting massive internal organ damage. This meant that even if you blocked a Hyuuga physically, their attack still succeeded in some way. Enough blocks and the Hyuuga could take out their opponent's entire arm, thus leaving that opponent vulnerable to more devastating attacks.

But Kurenai never blocked. She never let herself be touched at all. Hinata realized the more she sparred that Kurenai-sensei had just been playing with her the other day. In a true training spar, Kurenai-sensei was extremely hard even to touch. She was the perfect sparring partner for a Hyuuga, and threw many a surprise genjutsu into the works to continually test Hinata's Byakugan eyes.

In theory, Hinata should have been doing swimmingly, but instead as usual she was flagging. She got clumsier the longer she fought. She flailed and flagged and then finally gave up altogether. The longer this went on, the more depressed she became.

Kurenai was trying to talk her through this one group session, and Ino and Sakura overheard. "That's weird," said Ino, frowning, puzzled. "What's going on?"

Hinata swallowed. "I'm just weak," she whispered, and told them about her father and sister.

"Well that's shitty!" Ino said indignantly.

"Yeah, your Dad sounds like a dick," said Sakura sympathetically.

"But - it's true," Hinata murmured painfully, looking down. "I _am_ weak."

Kurenai had been listening with quiet compassion. But at last she spoke. "Part of your problem, Hinata," she said, "is a simple lack of self confidence." Hinata looked up. "The longer you fight without winning, the more discouraged you get. The more discouraged you get, the more mistakes you make. The more mistakes you make, the easier you give up. The easier you give up, the more downcast you become."

"So - it's a willpower thing?" said Ino curiously, beginning to sound above Hinata and exasperated. Hinata bristled despite herself.

"Maybe it's a little more complicated than that," said Sakura slowly and cautiously, eyeing Hinata's changing expression. "Come on, Ino-pig, we've bickered with Hinata-weirdo. We know she's not as easy to walk all over as you might think at first."

Ino paused. "Huh - true," she said thoughtfully, and Hinata relaxed, warmth filling her. "So what _is_ the problem?" They all turned to Kurenai.

"I think the reason why Hinata gets defeated so easily is that she's used to thinking she is no good," said Kurenai carefully. "Now, I do see a peculiar block concerning you, Hinata. You have potential, but you are always holding back. This is where the myth came from that you are no good - a myth you still believe to this day. That myth is the source of your problem.

"It's not that you're not _good_ , Hinata. But why do you hold back?" she asked, genuinely puzzled. "Because that exact block is what is keeping you from becoming the best, as you wish to be."

Hinata's eyes were wide. She swallowed and looked down. "I'm too compassionate," she admitted, ashamed. "In spars, I just… don't like hurting people."

She expected for that to be the end of it. She did not expect what came next.

"Wait, so - you think that by going easy on someone, you're _helping_ them?" said Ino disbelievingly. Hinata looked up in surprise. "But that's not the way it is at all!"

"Yeah," said Sakura, giving Hinata an odd look. "We spar with our friends to help them improve. If you don't try your hardest against your friends and family, when the chips are down, they could die."

"Obviously," Ino added, grinning.

Hinata just sat there, genuinely surprised. "I'd… never thought of it like that before," she admitted.

"If it helps, Hinata," said Kurenai, "fight me like you're helping me, not hurting me. You'll be helping yourself improve in the process. And you're good - so stop telling yourself that you're not."

Hinata went at it with this new frame of mind, and it was amazing how quickly she improved, smiling in disbelief and delight more and more over the following weeks as she moved rapidly into higher level fighting techniques.

Hinata ended up becoming, with years of practice with her clan already under her belt, an extremely high level Byakugan and Gentle Fist user, more smiling and confident. She was fast, graceful, soft, precise, and deadly - she could make someone vomit blood with a mere touch. Her vision was acute. She didn't lose her heart or her smile, but she became a more determined fighter. She even began participating better in clan spars back on the mats inside the compound sparring room at home, surprising her father and her sister, infuriating her cousin, and she became slowly less timid and more fiery - quiet, but fiery. She had realized she could rival and compete with the ever fiery Ino and Sakura, and that bolstered her significantly.

Her next goal, she thought to herself firmly, was to begin mastering the Hyuuga main family Jonin level secret arts. Kaiten, the One Body Blow, and Divine Sixty Four Strikes were at the top of her to-do list. But that time had not come yet.

* * *

Ino trained with both her father in his private clan estate training room and Kurenai out on the fields.

"I want to become a higher level Yamanaka fighter," she told her Dad determinedly, and a small, rare smile formed over her father's face.

"... I thought you'd never ask," he said.

So she alternated between training with her father's clones and practicing with Kurenai's clones. She had already mastered leaving her own body and taking over another's, but even there were several weaknesses, so her father said. She could only take over one person at a time. It had to be in a straight line. And the two bodies remained connected, so if one were hurt, so was the other.

"For a Yamanaka like myself?" said her father, matter of factly, without even undue arrogance. "None of those factors apply."

"Kurenai-sensei said even the chakra in the technique is weak," Ino admitted, pained. "She pushed me back out so easily. Have I really been so obsessed with Sasuke?"

Her father said nothing, which said volumes in and of itself.

Ino's fists clenched and she became angry with herself - determined to do well to make up for her lost time.

So she began: She had to master not only hostage mind takeover, the technique she had already been working on, but body takeover. In other words, she had to learn how to control other bodies without leaving her own, a higher level ninjutsu but one more useful in a battle type situation.

Then, once that was mastered, said her father mercilessly, she had to master multiple person, from any angle, with greater chakra power and with no harm done to herself - no matter what she commanded the people she was controlling to do.

Ino looked horrified at all that _work_. Then she thought of Sakura-forehead-girl and Hinata-weirdo. She became fiercer. "Damn right I can do this!" she shouted, and they began.

Ino's problem was the polar opposite of Hinata's. She lost her temper too easily, got impatient and frustrated, broke a technique to start shouting and kicking in midair. Her ever calm father often had to get very sharp with her, which was his way of yelling.

Kurenai-sensei, when Ino practiced with some of her clones, just looked quietly disappointed. That was almost worse.

"What's the problem, Ino-pig?" Sakura asked one day in a team meeting, smirking, needling Ino.

Ino growled. "I don't know!" she shouted to the skies, and saw Hinata staring at her skeptically. Ino sighed and looked down. "I just… I keep thinking I had years to figure this shit out. But I was too obsessed with -"

"A guy," Sakura and Hinata echoed, and they all became depressed.

"I can't believe I let _anyone_ else become the center of my life," said Ino. "It's so - not normally fabulous me!"

"I think that was a lesson for all of us," said Sakura sadly. "It's like Kurenai-sensei said. We have to be the main character. Some guy can't be the main character. Not even if it's a guy we like."

"And you know what you're doing, right, Ino-pig?" said Hinata, matter of fact and tough, eyebrows risen. "You're still making _him_ a major character in your story right now."

Ino stared. So did Sakura.

"You just need to learn to keep calm and work hard, power on through," said Hinata. "That's the way for you to get stronger. Not to always be thinking about some boy. You have to learn how to keep calm."

"True," said Sakura. "From what I've read, that's all chakra control and power is, too. Half of it's in the body, but the other half is in the mind."

Kurenai watched from a distance, unnoticed, in approval. They were starting to figure problems out for themselves, amongst the three of them, and that was good.

So Ino tried that - keeping calm and not thinking about anything but powering through the task at hand. She became calmer and fiercer, the look in her eyes dangerous once she got going. And she improved, mastering each task her father had set her in turn.

Ino became the mistress of dangerous grins and wild actions.

She could take over anyone's mind, but also anyone's body - and for the body technique, she did not have to leave her own. She could do it on several people at once, and from every angle, and she could make them do anything with no harm done to herself. Even her techniques themselves became stronger. She was like a spider weaving a web, controlling flies on her strings. She could make anyone do anything.

The latest technique she had mastered was mind connecting. She walked onto the training field with her team one day and suddenly her voice echoed in all their heads at once. They paused in surprise as she grinned. _You like? I can mind link and talk into other minds. You can even talk to each other through this thing without making a sound. And I can freak out someone one of us is attacking, making them think they're hearing things._

 _Imagine how useful that will be._

They grinned in return.

Ino's next steps were to learn mind sensing and mind reading. But that time had not come yet.

* * *

Sakura trained solely with Kurenai, for obvious reasons. Only Kurenai-sensei could teach her what she needed to know. Sakura, like Ino, trained with Kurenai clones.

Sakura's task was to master all manner of sensory genjutsu and quick kill attacks. First, she had to trickle chakra into the victim's cerebral nervous system. Next, she had to make a detailed, imaginative sensory sensation - a mirage so realistic it seemed real - come to life inside them, with as few flaws as she could think of. Finally, she had to kill them while they were distracted.

She practiced on Kurenai clones, not only attacking them with her own genjutsu but learning how to find and break out of Kurenai's genjutsu without freaking out at the first sign of trouble. She had to be intelligent, imaginative, and detail oriented, and her chakra control had to be exact.

Sakura's hardest problem was forming the correct, serene, mercilessly strategic ninja mindset. Her teammates as well as her Sensei helped her through this, correcting her gently, in smaller ways over a longer period of time.

"You have to stop underestimating yourself and following the rules," said Ino. "That's your biggest problem."

"A bit more inner calm and mercilessness wouldn't hurt either," Hinata added. "And that's coming from me."

They were understanding instead of condescending and that helped. Soon Sakura became calm, still her clear headed and sometimes humorous self, but more fiery and determined.

She became less immature, and more like a true, calculating ninja.

She quickly moved from regular genjutsu and quick kill attacks, and into multiple person genjutsu and timed genjutsu. She passed out a lot at first, but slowly her chakra power became stronger, as did her capacity for breaking out of any illusion. She became a master of all mysterious mirages and illusions. She could make two people kill each other, as Ino could, without a second thought. And, like Ino, she did - with Kurenai clones. She was never smirking and satisfied like Ino was, but that never made her any less deadly serious.

Her next quest was to master limb and head control for things like binding, sleeping genjutsu that put the cerebral nervous system into shutdown, direct cerebral nervous system damage, and psychic attacks. She was determined to keep improving. But that time had not come yet.

* * *

The four women also sparred with each other in team meetings almost constantly.

Kurenai sometimes would pair two girls up, or sometimes would pair one girl up against herself and go easy on them, alternating between easier taijutsu and easier genjutsu. But the really interesting times were when she had all three girls fight her at once.

Then, she felt, she could let a bit more of her true abilities shine through.

They always had team training meetings in that same training field: grassy clearing, forestry, three wooden posts, brook nearby. There, they would have their battles. Sakura, Hinata, and Ino would fight Kurenai at roughly a quarter of her full power - and it really did take all three of them, especially at first.

 _Sakura was focused with her hands in a hand seal, perspiring, brow furrowed. Kurenai swept at an illusory Sakura instead of the real, invisible one - and fell right into Hinata's Gentle Fist tap. Half of Kurenai's body froze up, and from an odd angle Ino waved her hand and did body control from her own form - forcing Kurenai to kill herself with no harm done to Ino's own body, but that was normal, they were used to harming Kurenai clones -_

 _And the Kurenai before them disappeared._

" _Damn!" They began looking around. "An illusion hiding a clone!"_

 _They all shrieked as a blast from a wind ninjutsu - Kurenai's hidden specialty unknown even to most Jonin - bowled them over from across the field, shoving them against the nearest tree._

They learned painfully over the following months: Kurenai was good at everything. She could do wind ninjutsu, she could do weaving taijutsu, she could clone herself, and of course she was a genjutsu master.

"I am a new Jonin," Kurenai admitted to them once. "Very young to make it to so high a rank. So I suppose I'm out with something to prove. My father, the Academy headmaster, tried to protect me from a rank as dangerous as this one… because I'm a young woman. I guess I want to prove to him, as well as everyone else, that I really can do this.

"When the Hokage suggested an all woman team… I meant, I spent years trying to get comfortable with my curvy body, trying to find my place in the fighting forces as a woman. I couldn't just say no."

They listened curiously, learning a bit more about their Sensei.

Kurenai would also, as promised, put them through mock team missions and collective strategy exercises. They would have to get through her clones and reach something, or they would have to make it across a training field while keeping something away from one of her clones, or they would have to protect one clone from another.

This meant they had to strategize amongst themselves through Ino's mind link. They had to predict each other's movements. They had to think fast and they had to think on a fly. Sometimes she even gave them an unusual mission, and had them craft a clever trap together or use their mutual skills to hide in the training field's surrounding forestry together. She even took them out on a couple of mock survival missions out in the forestry surrounding Konoha village's circular wooden wall.

They worked especially hard because they were also eating a lot and working out a lot in their off time.

But the results began to pay off. They moved, as Kurenai had promised, like a strong, enduring, and well oiled fighting machine - deadly serious and reading each other's movements perfectly.

* * *

There was a lot of complaining about the D rank missions at first, perhaps because of how much they were improving.

"We're learning all these amazing skills and our first missions are menial, around the village _chores_?" said Sakura in loud exasperation.

"Here, here!" said Ino fiercely.

"I did think my abilities were worth a little more than digging potatoes," said Hinata, frosty and displeased, her arms crossed.

Kurenai looked at her Genin in something like amusement. They were standing outside the Academy. They had just come from the mission assignments room, where the Hokage village commander and a Chuunin ranked ninja had given them their first mission - digging potatoes for a village local.

"Clients come to the village with missions, and those missions are separated into ranks," Kurenai began. "Based on level of difficult. Rookie Genin like yourself start out with D ranks - indeed, menial around the village chores. You are the lowest rank, so you get the easiest jobs. But also the ones no one else wants to do.

"Yet this serves a deeper purpose," she continued. "It gives you time to solidify your teamwork and build up your skill set. With these, you have more time to train with me, right? And think of these missions as an extension of our teamwork and strategy exercises. They are real life, easy missions to help you practice using your abilities together.

"Treat these D rank, around the village missions as you would training. And if you do enough of them well, you get elevated to a C rank - an out of village, violent mission with no other ninja involved.

"Remember, above all else, you _are_ getting paid. Clients pay the village and the village pays you. Even if a D rank doesn't cost very much money. That's how Hidden Village military bases work in peace time, ladies, when we're not fighting for our countries. Fire Country is counting on you, as is Konoha village."

So, reluctantly, Hinata, Ino, and Sakura got to work. They babysat toddlers and dug potatoes, they walked dogs and did herb gardening, they cleaned up public parks and rivers, they tracked down lost pets, they got groceries and supplies for villagers from neighboring villages…

And they used their abilities and increasing team cohesiveness to get things done. The Hokage was impressed as they kept completing missions in shorter and shorter periods of time, more and more successfully.

"Do you know," he said one day from his head table in the mission assignments room, the Hokage being a little old man in baggy red and white robes with a silver goatee and wood pipe, "you all are completing more missions than anyone else. In shorter times, too." He smiled at them as they beamed. "And from Kurenai's and the other Jonin reports, you are the team that is by far working the hardest in training as well. Elder Koharu told me she suspected an all female team would start getting things done. It was her suggestion."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," said Kurenai, smiling warmly and bowing. The girls were proud of themselves, as they _had_ hoped amongst themselves to get a higher level mission soon, but they were more happy for their Sensei. They could tell the praise meant a lot to her.

"If I may ask… what are the other teams that passed, Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked, and Ino and Hinata also looked curious.

"Ah, checking up on your classmates?" The Hokage chuckled. "Only natural, only natural. Teams Seven and Ten are the only other teams that passed the final Genin exam. Most of the rest of your classmates have dropped out of the forces entirely."

For a moment they felt cold, and very alone - even Ino.

"Not every Jonin is as nice as me," said Kurenai softly, her eyes sympathetic. "And not every graduated rookie is as good as you. Genin and Chuunin rank have steep dropout rates."

"Team Ten," said the Hokage, "is Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Aburame Shino, under my son Sarutobi Asuma. Team Seven is Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Inuzuka Kiba, under Hatake Kakashi."

The girls froze.

"Hatake Kakashi? The legend?" said Kurenai curiously.

"Yes, they are his first team. But I am disappointed. He is putting in the bare minimum and giving them no attention at all." The Hokage frowned. "I can't force him with his own team, so I'm not sure what to do about it. He certainly hasn't been working those boys as hard as you've been working your girls."

The three girls looked at each other. _Hinata,_ said Sakura's voice seriously in all three minds, _you have to find them._

 _Understood._ There was steel in Hinata's inner voice.

 _Yeah… Let's see how they're getting on… Pay them a little visit…_ Ino smirked humorlessly, her icy blue eyes deadly.

They were not exactly planning on the visit being a friendly one.

* * *

Hinata found Team Seven with her Byakugan eyes. The three girls hid with their new skill, and watched. Simply watched.

It was a mess. Sasuke refused icily to speak to anyone. Naruto annoyed and nagged at Kiba until at last Kiba lashed out in a fit of temper. Then Sasuke looked annoyed even though he'd done nothing to stop whatever was going on. Kiba and Naruto, temperamental and egotistical, fought and bickered.

They stood there at their meeting spot for hours, and got no training done. But where was the famous Kakashi?

At last, he appeared, making some stupid excuse about being late. He was a tall, slim man with a cloth face mask and a mess of silver hair, hitai ate slid down over one eye. From the way Kiba and Naruto yelled at Kakashi and the way Kakashi seemed amused, it appeared he was always late.

Then Naruto said, "I hate Tuesdays because I have to get up at 5 AM to meet your stupid ass that won't get here until 11 AM! I hate mission days!"

"Yes, yes," said Kakashi. "Come on, team, let's go get our mission."

Then they just left.

The girls knelt there in the underbrush for a while after the boys were gone. _It's like they haven't matured at all,_ said Ino in shock. _And they're not training at all either. Hokage-sama was right._

 _Their Sensei is hardly impressive,_ said Hinata skeptically. _No matter how famous he is._

 _But did you hear what they said?_ said Sakura, staring in horror at the spot where Sasuke had been. _They take out one mission a week. Then complain because they have to get up early because of it. We've been getting up to train and do missions both every single day. Can you imagine if I, with my lack of skills and ninja knowledge, had been put on their team?_

 _I just… thought how we do it was how everyone did it,_ Ino admitted.

 _They didn't even notice us. Though I suppose their Sensei must have,_ Hinata mused.

Ino suddenly stood, stepping out of the brush. She tossed her hair. "Come on, girls," she said. "We were always better off without them."

Ino, Sakura, and Hinata had learned to have high ninja standards under a strict Sensei. And so Team Eight parted ways from Team Seven in the final, most permanent sense.

* * *

On the day they took their team picture, they all had a fun afternoon out together.

Kurenai took them for a day on the town. They went shopping, had coffee and ice cream, went to a late night concert. Then they came back to Kurenai's house and before their sleepover, complete with peanut butter, balloons, games, and glitter, they had a professional photographer take their photo.

They each put a framed copy on their bedside table: all four of them laughing and smiling together, making victory signs at the camera.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

" _The only thing worse than a woman scorned is a woman underestimated."_

Another D rank, another lost cat. Team Eight had tracked him down to a forest on the way out of the village. They hid behind trees, peering out from around them into a clearing. The three girls did these missions - Kurenai was a distant commander and watcher, rarely involved.

She stood a ways away, listening to them speak to each other through Ino's mind link.

 _My eyes have spotted him. He's by the bush in the clearing's frontal far right corner._ Hinata's voice.

 _I see him._ Sakura's voice. _I'm in position._

 _So am I._ Ino's voice. _Hinata-weirdo's done her part by finding the target. Sakura-forehead-girl, you first._

Kurenai could see the illusion form as a misty mirage before the cat, completely real to it. Sakura was running toward it from the tree in front of it. The cat yowled - apparently Sakura had even remembered to include her own telltale scent - and skittered away -

Right into Ino's slowly improving range.

The cat paused. And then, its eyes rolling in panic, it marched itself jerkily back into the center of the clearing and stood there, docile.

The girls all darted out from their hiding places. Ino picked up the cat and grinned evilly into its terrified face. "The better to keep you under control so you don't claw somebody like _last_ time."

"Ino-pig, don't terrorize the poor cat," Hinata sighed.

"Poor cat?" Ino muttered skeptically, scoffing.

"Yeah, that's the fourth time it's nearly made it out of the village this month. I'm telling you, that thing's possessed by a demon," said Sakura, pointing at Tora the cat. "Sensei!" She put a hand around her mouth and called, startling a bird out of a nearby tree. "We have the cat!"

"Does it have the ribbon on its ear?" Kurenai called.

"Right markings, too!" Sakura confirmed. "It's Tora!"

"Hinata says so," said Hinata, quietly and firmly, as if this decided everything.

"Hinata-weirdo says so!" Sakura repeated.

"And now I'm deaf," said Ino flatly. "You could have just used the mind link. Or God forbid we cave and suggest some walkie talkies."

"Aww, hurt your poor little ears, did I, Ino-pig?" Sakura simpered, smirking.

"Sakura-forehead-girl, I swear, if I were not holding a small helpless animal -" Ino growled.

"Ah, but you _are_ holding a small helpless animal," said Hinata wisely. "So give the cat to me and _then_ kill Sakura-forehead-girl."

"Hey!" Sakura protested. Ino gave a vicious grin and Sakura began backing up.

"At ease, ladies," Kurenai sighed, striding into the clearing. "The mission is over. Let's head back to the Hokage."

* * *

They walked into the mission assignments room to find Team Seven standing there before the Hokage. "I spent all morning working on some stupid roof for some old guy!" Naruto was shouting. "I have splinters in my hands!"

The Hokage was sighing behind the table, hands folded, exasperated but patient. Kakashi looked exasperated.

"Yeah!" Kiba added, the puppy partner on his head barking. "We weren't even working for anybody important!"

"An aging civilian who is supposed to be under your protection is not important?" Kurenai asked sharply. Team Seven whirled around.

"Who are you?" Kiba asked rudely, staring at Kurenai. Team Eight bristled, all too aware of the relative anonymity of their Sensei.

"Her name is Yuuhi Kurenai," Hinata growled, fists clenched. "And someday she is going to be known as one of the greatest ninja Konoha village has _ever_ produced."

The boys backed up, surprised, at the fury in Hinata's face. Kurenai placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder, aware of the ire of all three girls. And they were stronger than they used to be - their killing intent held more weight.

"At ease, ladies," she repeated softly, and they relaxed reluctantly. "Hokage-sama, we have captured Tora the Cat."

"Understood. Bring the Fire Lady in!" the Hokage called. The mission doors were thrown open and the Fire Daimyo's wife - a vast, brightly painted, overpowering woman completely unlike her pale, skinny, fish-faced husband - burst into the room.

"Aww, Tora-chan!" she cooed, running forward to suffocate the poor cat between her magnificent breasts. "Mummy was so worried about you!"

The girls stared, deadpan. _No wonder the cat ran away,_ Ino thought, and then Hinata had to work her face very hard to keep from laughing. Sakura smiled.

"Thank you, girls. A solid hour. That's the best work so far," the Fire Lady beamed, pleased. She put a stuffed wad of bills on the Hokage's table and bustled out of the room.

"Hey! That was the Fire Lady!" said Kiba indignantly.

"Yeah, we've become her professional cat catchers," Ino said sarcastically.

"I dream of the day when I move beyond cat catching and into beating up actual bad guys," Sakura added.

"Well - why are they working for the Fire Lady while we work for some old guy?!" Naruto demanded.

"Naruto, that's not how you're supposed to think of it!" Hinata said, quietly and fiercely, angry. Naruto flinched back and just _stared_ at her again - she was nothing like she had been two months ago.

"First, because of that exact mindset," said the Hokage flatly.

"What, because they're ass kissers -?" Sasuke began sarcastically.

"All three of you! Be quiet!" Kakashi barked, losing his cool for a moment. The boys fell immediately silent, stunned.

 _What's going on?_ Sakura asked Kurenai through the mind link immediately, as a heavy silence fell.

 _Well,_ Kurenai speculated thoughtfully, _rumor has it Hatake Kakashi is hard to get to. But he, too, must know what it means - to have one team working for the Fire Lady and another team working for an ordinary man, even though they both graduated at the same time_.

"But I have a deeper reason," the Hokage rumbled, steepling his fingers in front of his wood pipe. "The first time she came in here since you graduated, the Fire Lady asked me for the best rookies on the books - the team I would recommend that isn't busy with C ranked mission. I truthfully recommended Team Eight."

Team Seven turned to stare at Team Eight, who smirked slightly.

"They did so well that after this, the Fire Lady always personally requested Team Eight," the Hokage continued. "And yes, they _do_ get paid slightly more than the average D rank. Apparently, Team Eight has…" The Hokage, who read all their mission reports, shared glances with Team Eight and smirked. "A _way_ with finding, capturing, and rendering docile. They always come back quickly, they never let Tora actually leave the village, and with Team Eight Tora never carries marks of being manhandled. They're the only team who can boast all three of those things."

Ino smirked. "But if you'd like, we're open to switching places," she said. "And we can take all the nasty splinter booboos for the poor babies."

Naruto growled - and sprinted at the girls. _"Naruto, no!"_ Kakashi barked, Team Eight had gotten into fighting stances, and just before Naruto and Team Eight made contact -

Kakashi and Kurenai were there. Kurenai stood in front of her girls while Kakashi held back Naruto.

"Kakashi," said Kurenai, cold and contemptuous, "control your children." The girls froze in surprise. That was a lot coming from Kurenai. She never called _them_ children.

Kakashi looked up at Kurenai sharply for a moment. "My apologies, Kurenai-san," he said at last, more alert and significantly less amused than a moment before. He turned to Naruto and cuffed him over the head. "Idiot! Do you know what could happen to you if you attack a comrade?!" he asked harshly.

"NARUTO!" The Hokage boomed and had stood. "This ends now!"

"Naruto, stop it!" Their old Academy teacher Iruka was in the missions room that day, and he looked fierce and worried, on tenterhooks as to whether or not he should intervene. His voice was quiet, almost hushed, but harsh.

Naruto faded, looking downcast. For a moment, Hinata almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

"Team Eight, this makes my decision all the more clear," said the Hokage solemnly. "You are not always as mature as you could be when it comes to your victories…" He looked them over sternly and they seemed sheepish. "But I cannot send Naruto on the mission I am about to send you."

Everybody looked up with wide eyes.

"Team Eight - you said you wanted to 'beat up bad guys?' I have a C rank for you," said the Hokage, deadly serious. "And I use the term C rank very loosely. On the surface, the job is so humble it would bring dishonor to a Chuunin. So I must send Genin."

"You say on the surface," said Kurenai slowly. "You believe the client is lying about the mission details?"

"I must admit I have my suspicions," said the Hokage seriously. "On the surface, the job is to bodyguard and escort a Wave Country construction manager back to his home. He says he wants to be protected from bandits and thieves. You must then guard him while he finishes a bridge building project there, back in the Wave."

"... Ah," said Kurenai, realizing. "Do you see, girls?" She turned to them.

"Kurenai-sensei…?" they began uncertainly.

"Go back to the very start of this man's story as we know it. Play it over in your head," said Kurenai. "You must be trained to look for these things."

Sakura saw it first. "If he's in the middle of a project and he's so worried about thieves and bandits… why leave the Wave?" she realized, eyes widening.

"Yeah!" said Ino, looking up. "I mean, if he came directly here -"

"Why would he go all the way to Fire Country to hire ninja for a danger he deliberately placed himself in?" Hinata wondered quietly.

Kurenai smiled triumphantly. "Exactly."

"Someone's after him," Ino realized. "So he came for ninja."

"And it must be ninja who are after him," Sakura added seriously.

"How do you figure?" Kiba asked. They realized the boys of Team Seven were watching them curiously.

"A C rank is a C rank," said Sakura, shrugging. "If he's not being targeted by ninja, he would have just told the truth."

"There is one team more experienced than you I could have sent, but they are off on another mission," said the Hokage calculatingly, sitting back in his seat. "So, Team Kurenai, will you take it?"

The girls looked at one another, and nodded. Kurenai turned back to the front. "Yes, Hokage-sama, we will -"

"Hokage-sama, are you sure?" Kakashi interrupted, skeptical. "I might be better for this type of mission. Kurenai is -"

"A woman?" said Kurenai in a quiet, deadly voice.

"I was going to say less experienced," said Kakashi, turning to her.

"I am perfectly capable of handling myself, Hatake Kakashi," said Kurenai stiffly. "I did achieve Jonin rank under my own merits."

"More to the point, Kakashi, her girls are better prepared for this than your boys are," said the Hokage. "They are a better cohesive team; I have to send them." He shrugged helplessly.

"But - but I want to fight ninja!" said Naruto, helpless, infuriated, indignant. Hinata swallowed her instinctive apology and looked away angrily. She was _done_ apologizing for being better. "I want to -!"

"Naruto, it's not safe for you!" Iruka barked worriedly, standing. Then he eyed Team Eight. "Hokage-sama, I know those girls have potential, but are you sure -?"

"I am positive, Iruka! If everyone will please stop questioning the decisions of the Hokage!" the Hokage barked. Silence fell. "Naruto, we will discuss your possible C rank after Team Eight have left," said the Hokage shortly, looking down and sorting through mission paperwork to prepare for Team Eight's departure. "I trust them." He looked up at them.

They felt a moment of pride inside themselves, and were determined to do well.

"... And you don't trust me?!" Naruto screamed at last, losing it.

"Naruto, be quiet," Kakashi barked, seeming somehow tight and annoyed at losing an important mission.

"You have given me no reason to!" the Hokage rumbled, standing.

"Because you've never given me the chance to show you!" Naruto shouted back, frustrated.

 _This feels weirdly like watching a family fighting,_ said Ino skeptically.

 _You're right,_ Sakura admitted. _I have that embarrassed feel._

 _Remember, Hokage-sama always let Naruto off after his village trouble-causing,_ Hinata reminded them sadly. _They must have known each other well for many years_.

Then Sasuke spoke skeptically. "Hokage-sama, with all due respect… last time I met these girls two months ago, they were not exceptional." The girls bristled. Sasuke wasn't even looking at them. "What on earth has happened in two months to suddenly make them so exceptional?"

His eyes were sharp - frustrated - angry. Once Sakura and Ino would have been upset with themselves for angering Sasuke through superior antics. Now Sakura simply felt an old ache of sorrow, while Ino felt a kind of vindictive satisfaction.

"That is between the members of Team Eight and myself," said the Hokage enigmatically. "Team Eight has agreed to take the mission, so it is theirs. Bring in the man from Wave Country!" he called.

Everyone turned around. An old man in poor, shabby clothes with a pot belly stumbled into the room. He was extremely drunk, clutching a bottle of alcohol. "Those're my ninjas?" he asked skeptically, squinting at Team Seven and slurring his words.

Naruto's eyes widened and he looked down, fists clenched. Sasuke's face twisted into a frustrated snarl. "Oi," said Kiba, annoyed, "we're not your escort team. _They_ are." He nodded reluctantly to Team Eight.

The man stared, looking closer. "But - they're a bunch o' little girls!" he protested disbelievingly.

"Say that again, fuckwad!" Sakura had to hold Ino back.

"Ino-pig, stop, he could be senile!" she growled, struggling with her best friend.

"I can assure you, we are quite capable," said Hinata frostily, arms folded.

Kurenai sighed. "Well, that could have gone worse, I suppose," she muttered wryly to herself. She turned to the man. "I can assure you, Mr -?" She rose her eyebrows with polite skepticism, looking him over.

"... Tazuna," he said, staring at them suspiciously. "Tazuna, the bridge builder from Wave."

"Tazuna-san. We have been hired because we are the best," she said. "You are in good hands. Everyone meet at the gates out of the village, fully packed and ready to go, goodbyes said to your families, in three hours."

Team Eight left the mission room with Tazuna, leaving Team Seven behind them. Kurenai could tell how it was going to go - Team Seven would be sent on an easier C ranked mission, but Kakashi would train them more than he would have otherwise. And on the surface, that would be enough to make up for the easier mission.

But somehow, Kurenai already had the feeling that the sort of experience this mission would be wasn't something a person could just easily pass up with no changes made.

"Kurenai-sensei," said Hinata worriedly, once Tazuna was gone for the moment, "do we tell our families the truth about this mission?"

"... No." Kurenai frowned, torn. "I hate giving you this order, but no. They would try to stop you, and not even your fathers, Ino and Hinata, could undo the Hokage's orders without the backing of the council. It's safer for them if they don't know. Just say your goodbyes like it's a regular C rank. Remember, you're ninjas now."

They nodded solemnly, sorrowful. "Understood."

* * *

Together, they left the big wooden gates out of the village in three hours time. Everyone was there, kunoichi uniforms on, packs on their backs, Tazuna in their center. He seemed to have sobered up and was significantly more polite, but still skeptical.

"You're sure a woman and three girls can do this?" he asked.

"Please do not worry, Tazuna-san," said Kurenai. "I am a Jounin and we are qualified professionals. Unless you are afraid we cannot take care of a pack of bandits?" Her smile became sharp, her eyes watchful. The girls examined Tazuna's face curiously.

He blanched and retreated a little. "That's - I mean - you're fine." He forced out a smile. It was easy to tell for a ninja good at reading people - bandits weren't what he was worried about. Hokage-sama had been right.

They set out on their journey by foot, on the outside casual. Inside, the girls were excited but nervous. Would they really encounter foreign ninjas on this mission? On the one hand, they would get to test out their new skills. On the other hand, would those new skills be enough?

"Tazuna-san, you said you're from the Wave Country, right?" Sakura asked curiously after a while of silence. "Kurenai-sensei, since Tazuna-san traveled here, I take it there are no ninja in Wave?"

"No," said Kurenai. "The Elemental Nations are divided up into several countries, each with a different culture. Any country who ever felt threatened hired and founded a Hidden Village full of ninja somewhere in their confines, a Hidden Village that shares their culture. Wave was a poor fishing country, an island with no surrounding countries and no reason for pillaging. It never felt threatened, so it never bothered to found a Hidden Village, particularly as it didn't have the money.

"But many other countries do have Hidden Villages. The five big ones are our Konoha in Fire, Suna in Wind, Kumo in Lightning, Iwa in Earth, and Kiri in Water. Only the commanders of those five villages are allowed to carry the title of Kage, or Shadow. There is our Hokage, Suna's Kazekage, Kumo's Raikage, Iwa's Tsuchikage, and Kiri's Mizukage. Since each Kage is the best their village has to offer, the strongest and the wisest, the five Kage are considered the five strongest ninja in the world. When they all meet, it is a great thing.

"You all look skeptical," Kurenai smiled, when the three girls looked doubtful and puzzled. They froze up a bit, but Kurenai did not seem angry. "Size and age are no indicator of talent in the ninja world. Just because our Hokage is small and old, that does not make him weak. Rather, it means he has great experience and has lived through everything the vicious ninja world has ever thrown at him. Remember that about old ninja: they're uncommon for a reason."

The girls sobered. "It makes sense," said Ino after a moment. "All those big countries are on the actual continent, surrounded by adversaries."

"So how does the Hidden Village and country system work?" Hinata added curiously.

"Groups of ninja get together in a Hidden Village," said Kurenai. "They agree to fight for their country in times of war. In exchange, they are allowed to live on that country's land and set up an independent village government system - Konoha is a country within a country, so to speak. And we are famous for being one of the strongest in the world, one of those who came out on top. Supposedly, the Hokage is on equal level with the Fire Daimyo. Only the Hokage is elected and has a council to guide him."

"And we make our own money through missions during times of peace," finished Sakura curiously. "With our various ranking and paying levels of missions."

"Correct," said Kurenai. "Our culture is unique as well. Konoha and Fire are very forested, and nature and peace oriented. We value comradeship deeply. We are also very informal, not very religious, and extremely touristy. We have wealthy, even greedy merchants and we encourage them."

They walked for a while longer, and then Sakura stiffened slightly and opened the mind link. _That puddle up there - it's a genjutsu._

 _I saw it,_ said Kurenai immediately. _It hasn't rained in this part of the world in days. A puddle makes no sense._

 _Gotta be someone from Kiri,_ said Ino seriously. _They don't have an alliance with Konoha and their village specializes in water._

Hinata turned on her Byakugan. _I see them! Two Kiri ninja, adult men, about Chuunin rank according to their chakra coils. They're disguising themselves with that puddle genjutsu. And they have the slashed hitai ate of the missing nin. They're rogue from their village. Someone must have hired them._

 _And since they're missing nin, they'll do anything,_ said Kurenai seriously. _Girls, you're going to have to trust me for a minute, okay? It may look like I'm about to abandon you, but I'm not. I'm doing what makes sense. Keep walking. Fight when needed._

 _Sensei, what -?_

And then they'd walked right past the puddle. Suddenly, two huge dark masked men emerged from the puddle genjutsu - Tazuna cried out - and they carried a shuriken chain between them. They ran at Kurenai, whose eyes widened in surprise - that was when the girls knew it was an act. The shuriken chain wrapped around Kurenai.

"One down," said one of the Kiri nin in a deep, hoarse voice.

The shuriken chain tightened around Kurenai and she died in an explosion of blood, her face frozen in shock. Her mangled body littered the dirt road. "SENSEI!"

 _It's a genjutsu!_ said Sakura in the mind link immediately. _I don't know where Sensei went, but that's not her!_

The girls were frozen for a moment as the missing nins' deadly eyes turned to them. Move, they told themselves. Move!

The missing nin suddenly appeared behind Sakura. "Sorry, but you're closest to the old man," one growled in her ear. "Two down." Sakura's eyes widened - and then her image fazed out. "Damn!" they swore, looking around. "Genjutsu!"

They ran at Ino, and she also disappeared. Then their bodies froze up - and Ino appeared somewhere else, controlling them, face determined and hands placed in a hand seal. Sakura let her own hand seal go, a farther ways back, her face reserved.

"Confused?" Ino growled, grinning. "Sakura's a genjutsu user. I control people's minds and bodies. You two are officially my bitches and I can do whatever the hell I want to you. I just had to get close enough and in position, hence Sakura's help.

"Hinata! You're up."

"Yes." Hinata nodded icily. Her eyes fierce, she ran at the missing nin, hands glowing in Gentle Fist style, Byakugan active.

"Shit!" one of them shouted. "It's a Hyuuga!"

Hinata paused before them and smirked. "Surprise." And in a quick flash of hands they were paralyzed in the arms and legs, convulsing and vomiting blood. Ino let them go and they fell over on the ground, writhing around in pain.

"Geez…" Tazuna breathed, terrified, staring with his face white.

"Good job, girls." Kurenai appeared suddenly in their midst with her usual speed, face reserved and thoughtful. "Very well done."

The girls beamed in pride.

"Why did you let them fight?!" Tazuna demanded. "If you were alive?! They're kids!" A torn up log lay off to the side in place of the genjutsu.

"They could handle themselves, could they not?" Kurenai asked coldly, and Tazuna flinched, staring at the downed ninja. "They froze up a little at the beginning, but in the end they worked together to fight Chuunin and moved when they needed to. They were not as fast or immediate as a Jounin and they dealt no killing blow, they had to work together in order to bring victory, but that is to be expected - they are Genin.

"Besides, I needed to test something. With me gone, who would these ninja target? I hid and watched. And they targeted you, Tazuna-san. Just as I thought they would. What did they say to Sakura? 'Sorry, but you're closest to the old man.'

"You didn't tell us ninja were after you. You lied in the mission request details. Why? Is it because you couldn't afford anything above a C rank?"

Her eyes narrowed, deadly.

Tazuna swallowed and looked away. "Please," he whispered. "My country is so poor. This is all we could manage."

"We?" Sakura echoed. The girls were frowning.

Kurenai looked at the girls, studying them. "If we continue on this mission, more dangerous ninja could come," she said. "Do we continue?"

"Hokage-sama's trusting us!" said Ino indignantly.

"Of course we continue," said Hinata with quiet, dignified firmness. "We always continue, and persevere."

"... That is what a ninja would do," said Sakura, fiery. "I am a ninja."

Kurenai smiled warmly. "Very well. Then we take Tazuna-san back to the coast and deposit him in his homeland. On the way to his homeland, he tells us the truth. And if he lies again or the truth isn't good enough…" She turned with a very different expression to Tazuna and he shivered. "We leave him to fend for himself.

"Now come. We must tie these ninja up and send a messenger hawk to ANBU Black Ops to come pick them up."


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: A short little filler chappie before a REALLY BIG ONE that's going to be pretty different from canon._

* * *

Chapter Four

" _Reputations are a funny thing. First impressions tend to create them."_

They made it through the pathways, past the forests, and onto a black pebble beach. A chilly sea wind whipped their faces as they stared out over the mists floating above the foamy, iron grey water.

"Don't fall in," Ino muttered. "It looks freezing."

Hinata smirked humorlessly and Sakura shuddered.

They found a man waiting with a small fishing boat to take them to the island of the Wave. They all climbed in, the boat bobbing and rocking, and plunked themselves down. Silently, he began rowing them, as they swayed this way and that, toward the Wave.

"Why are we rowing even though the boat has a motor?" Sakura asked uncertainly. "And… why aren't we taking some more… official means of transportation into the Wave?"

Tazuna laughed harshly. "There is no longer any 'official means of transportation' into the Wave. We've been sealed off from the rest of the world. We're rowing instead of using a motor because we're trying to pass unnoticed, so keep your voices down."

They lowered their heads, gazing around nervously, and spoke in hushed tones. Only Kurenai seemed calm, staring at Tazuna piercingly.

"Who cut you off?" Hinata asked, concerned.

"Tazuna-san," said Kurenai icily, "now would be a _very_ good time for you to start talking."

Tazuna sighed, and nodded. "Alright," he said. "The Wave used to be just as you said. A small, poor, but happy fishing island. Then the great corporate magnate Gato set his sights on us."

"The millionaire?" said Kurenai, pausing in surprise.

"Just him." Tazuna nodded. "He's a black market dealer who specializes in hostile corporate takeovers, but he is one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. He quickly took over all shipping on the island, choking us off. He now controls all means of transport and the entire economy. He's been squeezing us until we gasp our last breath ever since. He's a mafia dealer, basically - he exacts harsh penalties of money, institutes public executions, and he keeps us from leaving. He is an evil man. We were already poor; now we truly have nothing. And morale has been lost.

"I am a construction manager, so I did the only thing I could think of to do. I began building a bridge that should eventually stretch all the way to the mainland, a way of getting on and off the island that Gato can't control. It has thick, strong stone supports and it's damp and surrounded by water, making it almost impossible to destroy. It's about half finished -"

"But Gato decided to target you personally," said Sakura thoughtfully. "Because you're the only thing keeping him from full control over the island."

"It's psychological warfare," said Ino knowledgeably. "If some resistance leader gets killed, everyone will become even more afraid."

"They will lose what little hope they had left," said Hinata sympathetically, troubled by this story.

"So he's been sending powerful Kiri missing nin after you to assassinate you," said Kurenai. "That truly is ugly fighting. Kiri nin are already some of the most vicious ninja there are. They do not come from a kind place. Missing nin acting as mercenaries - that's even worse. And a more powerful person will probably be sent this time."

"All the same - I'd say that qualifies as a damn good reason to help them," Ino offered. "Guarding him while he finished the bridge is the least we can do."

"Yes. I would like to help," said Hinata firmly, her eyes fierce. Hinata had always had a bit of saving the world in her, and Ino's grinning smugness hid her good heart.

"We can't just turn our backs now," Sakura admitted. "We made a promise, didn't we?" Raised by people who were essentially civilians, Sakura had never truly lost her sense of honor.

Kurenai sighed. "Very well," she said. "I agree. I am willing to fight a fellow Jounin if it means helping an entire island. Besides, this would be an excellent way to prove ourselves, yes? Hokage-sama said he was counting on us. What would it look like if the first all women team turned back with their tails between their legs?

"But you should know, girls," said Kurenai seriously, "this qualifies as an A rank. When dangerous and high ranking ninja are involved, the mission goes from B to A risk level. There is a high probability we could die."

The girls nodded, nervous.

Tazuna sighed, sagging in relief. "Thank you," he said quietly. "You are good people. I will take you to my home and you can stay there during the mission, guarding me while I come and go. There's the bridge," he added, pointing, as a huge, hulking shape appeared through the mists. The girls looked around and gasped.

Already the half finished bridge was humongous. It was a massive stone thing supported by pillars, with a surface at least twice as wide as a boardwalk. The salty sea air slapped against its bottom pillars. Construction equipment arched, ghostly and empty in the fog, across its length.

"That's amazing…" more than one girl whispered. Tazuna beamed in pride, the first happy expression they had seen on him.

They rowed underneath the bridge and through a wide opening in the rocky cliff face. This was clearly not the established route. They rowed down a dark tunnel glowing orange by warning lights, and came out on the other side, squinting with their hands raised against the sudden burst of sunlight.

The mists had cleared and the Wave was beautiful. They drifted up to a little pier. Ramshackle white plaster buildings on wood stilts were set right on the water before slowly fading away into dark green, twisting land. The scent of salty sea air still pervaded the entire area.

They bumped gently against the harbor wall and climbed out, still swaying slightly, onto wood planks.

"That's all I can do for you, Tazuna," said the rower, obviously a local, seriously for the first time. "You take it from here."

"I understand. Thank you," said Tazuna meaningfully. The man turned on the motor in his boat and sped away. Tazuna turned to Team Eight. "Please lead me home safely."

They followed him around the main market and center of the village, toward the trees on the outskirts.

"Where are we going?" Ino asked, hurrying to keep up.

"My home is set away on some cliffs, not an official part of the village," said Tazuna. "I built it myself," he added, with some modicum of pride.

"Why don't we go through the market?" Sakura asked cannily. "Isn't it quicker?"

"No, this way's quicker," said Tazuna, deliberately shifty and evasive. Hinata turned on her Byakugan and looked closely at his heart rate.

 _He's lying,_ she said through the mind link, _his physical stats are up,_ and Team Eight exchanged dark looks. _Why wouldn't he want us to see the village yet?_

They eventually entered trees, winding down a narrow dirt path. Just as they came to a large clearing with a pond, Hinata paused, her Byakugan still active. "Someone is watching us," she said sharply. "A ninja." _There are actually two_ , she said through the mind link, _but the other is a masked Kiri ANBU Black Ops agent and he does not seem keen to move_.

Suddenly, a giant sword flew out from the surrounding underbrush - Team Eight and Tazuna were cleaved in half - and then the illusion fazed out. A massive Kiri ninja landed on the sword that had embedded itself in a tree trunk on the edge of the clearing, looking around sharply.

The final illusion fell and Team Eight and Tazuna revealed themselves, behind Kurenai and safely off to the side. She was watching the Kiri missing nin warily. He had a bare, muscular chest that was, most terrifyingly, completely unmarked. He wore camo pants, a cloth face mask, and brutally buzz cut dark hair. His eyes were fearsome, small, dark, cold, and wild in his wide-jawed, angular face.

"That's Momochi Zabuza," Kurenai told her Genin quietly. "He's a very famous Jonin level Kiri missing nin. He was one of the brutal Seven Swordsmen. Girls, stay back. I'll handle this."

"I'm honored you have heard of me. I'm afraid I can't say the same for you," said Zabuza in cruel amusement.

"Then that gives a fellow Jonin the advantage, does it not?" Sakura asked sharply before Kurenai could stop her.

Zabuza paused and gazed at her seriously. "One has the Byakugan, one can set up nonverbal communication links, and one is surprisingly intelligent with strategy," he said assessingly. So he had a brain on him, too. "Your kids aren't bad."

"They're far from kids," said Kurenai frigidly, giving him a contemptuous stare.

Zabuza sneered. "They look like kids to me."

Team Eight moved forward angrily, but Kurenai held out a hand silently and forced them back. They'd never seen her so quiet and solemn. "Don't interfere," she said simply. "Not this time. Form a swastika protective formation around Tazuna and stay there. You'll just be in my way."

"You really think an unknown Jonin can defeat me?" Zabuza asked, still with that same cruel curiosity.

"Everyone will certainly have heard of me," said Kurenai coldly, "once I have killed Momochi Zabuza in armed combat."

Zabuza grinned a terrifying smile. "You have a little fight in you… all four. I like that in a set of victims.

"I would ask you to just hand over the old man, but that's not going to happen, is it?"

Four fearful and defensive glares answered him.

He sighed. "Thought not. Very well." He smirked, eyes dancing with carefully repressed eagerness. "Let's begin."


End file.
